Monthly Archives: January 2016

Former U.S. Sec. of Defense, William J. Perry: “Today we still have over 20 thousand real world nuclear weapons. Enough to blow up everybody on the planet several times over.
Those weapons pose the immediate problem of a danger of terrorism, the immediate problem of the possibility of nuclear war.
“The antagonism between Russia and the United States has reached a point now where I believe we are on the brink of a new nuclear arms race. It breaks my heart.
“Today, the danger of a nuclear catastrophe is actually higher than it was during the cold war. Let me say that again…”

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Fmr. U.S. Sec. of Defense Dr. Wm. J. Perry – photo: EON

An original Silicon Valley entrepeneur, he advanced spy technology, was former Defense Secretary, but now is a leading Nuclear Abolitionist –
What does Bill Perry know that we don’t…
…and NEED TO?
Little did mild-mannered, hi-tech electronics entrepreneur Bill Perry know when he accepted a call from Washington, DC in 1962 that he would be involved in the most potentially catastrophic nuclear stand-off period in history.
That is, up until to this even higher risk present moment.
Though now eighty-six, Perry is a man with fire in his belly, and a drive to warn the world about what he knows as he travels the remaining ‘miles before he sleeps.’
He has been a defense establishment insider for most of his life., yet when most people would be relaxing into their ‘sunset years,’ Former Defense Secretary Bill Perry has teamed up with other senior statesmen of similar stature, Sam Nunn, George Schultz, and Henry Kissinger to mount a public nuclear consciousness-raising campaign aimed especially at the generation that will have to deal with the legacy of the Atomic Age in which each played major roles. Perry also laments the current amnesia about the nuclear threat by the general public – and therefore the lack of action.
“…Our chief peril is that the poised nuclear doom, much of it hidden beneath the seas and in remote badlands, is too far out of the global public consciousness.” (My Journey at the Nuclear Brink, William J. Perry)
In this succinct talk at a bookstore in Northern California, as part of his tireless current book tour, he lays out the key points his ‘journey on the nuclear brink,’ and shares what he knows must be done for our society to back away from the present nuclear brink.
In this succinct talk at a bookstore in Northern California, as part of his tireless current book tour, he lays out the key points his ‘journey on the nuclear brink,’ and shares what he knows must be done for our society to back away from the present nuclear brink.
Here’s where to find out more: WJPerryProject.
Political Responsibility in the Nuclear Age: an Open Letter to the American People
by Richard Falk, David Krieger – Robert Laney

“We are appalled that none of the candidates running for the highest office in the land has yet put forward any plans or strategy to end current threats of nuclear annihilation, none has challenged the planned expenditure of $1 trillion to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and none has made a point of the U.S. being in breach of its nuclear disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In the presidential debates it has been a non-issue, which scandalizes the candidates for not raising the issue in their many public speeches and the media for not challenging them for failing to do so. As a society, we are out of touch with the most frightening, yet after decades still dangerously mishandled, challenge to the future of humanity.”
No Danger of Nuclear War? The Pentagon’s Plan to Blow up the Planet
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

“Publicly available military documents confirm that nuclear war is still on the drawing board of the Pentagon.
Compared to the 1950s, however, today’s nuclear weapons are far more advanced. The delivery system is more precise. In addition to China and Russia, Iran, Syria and North Korea are targets for a first strike pre-emptive nuclear attack.
Let us be under no illusions, the Pentagon’s plan to blow up the planet using advanced nuclear weapons is still on the books.”
Fukushima Mon Amour: the Hucksters of the Green Atom
by Jeffrey St. Clair
“There are currently 460 or so operating nukes, some chugging along far past their expiration dates, coughing up 10 percent of global energy demands. Teller’s green disciples want to see nuclear power’s total share swell to 50 percent, which would mean the construction of roughly 2100 new atomic water-boilers from Mogadishu to Kathmandu. What are the odds of all of those cranking up without a hitch?
Meanwhile, back at Fukushima, unnoticed by the global press corps, the first blood cancers (Myelogenous leukemia) linked to radiation exposure are being detected in children and cleanup workers. And off the coast of Oregon and California every Bluefin tuna caught in the last year has tested positive for radioactive Cesium 137 from the Fukushima meltdown. The era of eco-radiation has arrived. Don’t worry. It only has a half-life of 30.7 years.”
Ukraine on the brink of a nuclear disaster; Ukrainian saboteurs nearly caused another Fukushima
Pavel SHIPILIN,
In Экспресс Газета, December 15, 2015
Translated from Russian by Tom Winter, December 25, 2015
“Few gave noted the fact that cutting the power lines to de-energize Crimea nearly led to fatal consequences at the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant, which is located in the Mykolaiv region, – an accident on a Chernobyl scale. A miracle saved us all: workers at the station succeeded in a few hours to restore the electricity to the security system. [Nuclear power plants produce electricity, but they need a constant supply of it to avoid meltdown, as in Fukushima, for instance — tr.]”
US airmen damage nuclear missile as ‘troubleshooting’ mission goes wrong
The air force stripped the three airmen of their nuclear certification following the incident in 2014 and quietly launched an accident investigation
For more on this issue:
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of SafetyPaperback – August 26, 2014
by Eric Schlosser – A myth-shattering exposé of America’s nuclear weapons
“…He sees the decline of interest in the nuclear issue as a matter of high urgency.
“This is the scary thing for me,” he says. “The people for whom this is still a threat, the people who are most anti-nuclear, the people who are most afraid about this, are the ones who know most about it.”
And yet, the pool of knowledge possessed by that elite group of weapons designers and scientists is fast drying up. “It’s very disturbing that the number of people who have seen a nuclear weapon detonate is dwindling. Half the American population was not yet born or were young children when the Soviet Union disappeared. The most anti-nuclear people in the US today are 75, 80 years old.”
Without their expertise to keep us alert, Schlosser fears, the world will be allowed to slide into a form of collective madness founded on denial, a death wish that sees nuclear weapons as no longer a problem. Though both the US and Soviet Union have reduced their stockpiles dramatically, the US today still has 4,650 nuclear weapons, Russia about 3,500, China and France about 400 each and the UK 150. Should just one of those warheads go off, through an accident, or through systems infiltration by a hacker, the consequences would be unthinkable.”
Eric Schlosser on the Secret History of America’s Nuclear Arsenal
In a new book, the ‘Fast Food Nation’ author investigates the many near-misses that could have caused catastrophes
By Ryan Devereaux September 16, 2013
Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/q-a-eric-schlosser-on-the-secret-history-of-americas-nuclear-arsenal-20130916#ixzz3yJR4kP2N

‘Punditry’ or Promise?
California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom says he has been pondering the issues relating to extending PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power station operation for some time. In a December 18, 2015 meeting of the State Lands Commission – which he chairs – he voiced his conclusions. This is a verbatim excerpt of what he had to say.
This excerpt is re-posted by EON from the Commission’s video archive as a public service.
See also: Can Gavin Newsom close California’s last nuclear plant?
By David R. Baker
In the following excerpt of its Dec. 2015 meeting, the CA Lands Commission, chaired by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, hears a staff report and public comments on extending Diablo’s operation.
Re-posted by EON from the Commission’s video archive as a public service.

Maggie and Arnie Gundersen – respectively Founding President and Chief Nuclear Engineer of Fairewinds Energy Education – are former nuclear energy industry insiders who have become consultants and educators about the risks posed by that industry. They provide expert witness services and promote safe energy.
In this conversation with EON’s Mary Beth Brangan and Jim Heddle they talk about those risks, the impact of whistleblowing on their lives, their experience in helping to shutdown San Onofre, and their advice to the people and organizations pushing for the shutdown of Diablo Canyon, California’s ‘Last Nuke Standing.’
They encourage nuclear abolitionists not to demonize those who are mistakenly promoting nuclear energy as a solution to climate change.
This is a segment from a forthcoming EON series based on the Gundersen’s recent speaking tour in California, which included events at Sonoma State and California Polytechnic as well as talks in Pt. Reyes Station, Berkeley and San Luis Obispo (hosted by Mothers for Peace). The program at Sonoma State featured presentations by Arnie and author Majia Nadesan and a conversation between them.
EON helped to organize the tour in cooperation with John Bertucci and co-sponsors Fukushima Response and Project Censored; Bing Gong, Pt. Reyes Books and Cultural Potholes Institute; Cynthia Papermaster and the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists; Lori Grace and The Sunrise Center.
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